Electric time-switch.



PATENTED MAR. 20, 1905.

M. T. CAMPBELL. ELECTRIC TIME SW ITUH.

APPLIUATIOH FILED OUT. 17

2 SHEETS-SHEET l,

aftozmb 1.30

No. 815,792. PATENTED MAR. 20, 1906. I M. T. CAMPBELL. I

ELECTRIC TIME SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED OUT. 17. 1905.

Z SHEET$-SHEET 2.

wilt/"Mm cjwmwtoz PATENT OFFICE- TO JOHN G. ERTEL, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA.

ELECTRIC TIME-SWITCH.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed October 17, 1905. Serial No. 283,117.

Patented. March 20, 1906.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MiL'roN T. CAMPBELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Time-Switches, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to produce time-controlled means for automatically opening and closing an electric switch, the construction being such that the period of lighting may be controlled as to length and timg of occurrences, a standard switch being use The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of an apparatus embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a full-sized elevation of the mechanism immediately associated with the time-train, together with a portion of the time-train Fig. 3, a plan of the parts shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 4, a section on line 4 4 of Fig. 2; Fig. 5, a section on line 5 5 of Fig. 2, Fig. 6, a vertical section of the catch mechanism for holding and releasing the switch; and Fig. 7, a plan, on a small scale, of the standard switch used.

In the drawings, 10 indicates the frame of an ordinary and the usual time-train 11 and motor-train 12, the time-train 11 having the usual minute-arbor 13 and hour-sleeve 14 sleeved thereon, the time-train being so pro- .portioned, however, that the hour-sleeve makes but one revolution in each twenty-four hours.

My invention is designed to use a standard form of double-knife switch, which consists of a suitable insulating-plate 20, on which is mounted two pairs of terminals 21 21 and 22 22, to which are connected the circuit-wires 23 and 24. As is usual in such a switch, the two switch members 21 and 22 are hinged, respectively, to one of each pair of terminals 21 and 22 and are connected together by suitable insulating connecting members 24. The switch 21 22 is normally urged to closed position by means of a light spring 25 and is drawn to open position by means of a spring-link 26, one end of which is attached to the switch member and the other end of which is attached'to a lever 27, pivoted upon frame 10 and provided with a roller 28, adapted to be engaged by a cam 29, which cam is adapted to raise the arm 27, so as to place the spring 26 under tension, and upon irther rotation to suddenly release the arm 27, so as to remove all tension of-the link 26 from the switch member 21" 22 "The cam 29 is attached to the square'outer end of the sleeve 30, which is sleeved upon the windingarbor 31 of the striking-train 12, and sleeve is attached to the main driving gea'r 32 of the striking-train, said gear carrying the usual pawl 33, which engages ratchet 34, attached to the winding-arbor 31 and carrying one end of the motor-spring 35, the 'arrangement being such that the motor-spring 35 may be wound up by rotation of the wind; ing-arbor 31 inside of the sleeve 30 and without movement of the cam 29, while a'movement of the gear 32, caused by a release of the striking-train, will cause a half-revolution of the cam 29. The striking-train is normally held against movement by means of a usual stop-arm 38, carried by a rock-shaft'39, said rock-shaft carrying the usual arm 40, which is controlled in its movement in the usual manner by the notched disk 41. Arm 40 is swung upward, so as to withdraw the stoparm 38 from engagement with the strikingtrain by means of an arm 42, carriedby a rock-shaft 43, which rock-shaft also carries an arm 44. This construction is common and ordinary, except that usually the arm 44 is projected into position to be directly en gaged by a rotating member of the timetrain, whereas in the presentconstruction in order to place less of a drag upon the timetrain I provide an additional lever 45, which is pivoted upon the frame 10 and'is adapted to engage and operate the arm 44. Thele' ver 45 is projected into the path of movement of a pin 46, carried by a disk 47, which'is sleeved upon the hour-sleeve 14 in a usual manner, so as to be rotated thereby, but so as to be angularly adjustable thereon, the driv 'ing engagement between the hour-sleeve and thedisk 47 being frictional. The disk 47 is provided on its visible face with equally spaced numbers from 1 to 24.

Also sleeved upon the hour-sleeve 14 is a disk 50, provided with a pointer 51, which may be brought adjacent to any one of the figures on the visible face of the disk 47, and also provided on its rear face with a pin 52, which is'adapted to engage the end 53 of a lever 54, pivoted upon the frame 10. Lever 54 is also provided with an arm 55, to which is connected one end of a link 56, the other end of said link being attached to a pivoted trip-lever 57 mounted in a suitable casing 58. Pivoted within the casing 58, preferably upon the pivot of lever 57 is a catch 59, which is adapted to engage the cross-bar 70 of the switch 21 22 and hold said switch in closed position. Catch 59 is normally urged outward by a spring and is provided at its rear with a shoulder 61, which is adapted to be engaged by the lower end of a pawl 62, pivotally attached to the lever 57., and provided with a pin 63, which projects into a cam-slot 64, formed in the casing 58.

The operation is as follows: Suppose that it is desired that the switch be closed at six oclock in the evening and be kept closed until midnight. The operator will turn the :.disk 47 upon the hour-sleeve until the number 18 (which would indicate siX p. m.) lies beneath the hour-hand H and will manually turn disk 50 on the hour-sleeve until its pointer 51 lies six hours back of 24'i. 6., at a point 18. Under such conditions when the hour-hand reaches 18 on the dial Xthe'pin 46 of disk 47, which lies in the same radius as the number 24 on the disk, will have engaged lever 45, and thus by operating upon arm 44 will swing arm 42 so as to withdraw arm 40 from engagement with the notched disk 41 and withdraw arm 38 from engagement with the motor-train and permit the motor-train to rotate the cam 29 in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2, thus withdrawing the high point of the cam from under roller 28, so as to permit arm 27 to drop downward. Thereupon spring 25 serves to close the switch 21 22 and throw the cross-bar thereof beneath the catch 59. The motor-train continues to rotate until the other high point of cam 29 is passed beneath the roller .28, thus swinging arm 27 immediately to its normal position and placing the spring of link 26 under tension, the switch remaining closed, however, because of its engagement by catch 59, although spring 26 is stronger than spring 25. When the hour-hand has reached 24 on dial X, pin 52 will have been moved until it has engaged arm 53 of lever 54 and swung said lever upward, at the same time swinging arm 55 of said lever upward, and thus drawing link 56 upward, so as to swing lever 57 of the catch mechanism to the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 6. When lever 57 is moved to the position indicated in dotted lines, pin 63 of the pawl 62 is engaged by the left-hand end of slot 64 and swung to the position indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 6, where its lower end will lie immediately above the shoulder 61 of catch 59, so that so soon as pin 52 is withdrawn from under the end of arm 53 arm 55 (by reason of the weight 55', attached thereto) will be thrown down, so as to return lever 57 to its normal position, the catch 59 being withdrawn by reason of its engagement by pawl 62 from the switch 21 22, thus permitting the spring-link 26 to draw the switch to open position. The withdrawal of catch 59 occurs early in the downward stroke of le ver 57, and when lever 57 has nearly reached its lowest position pin 63 of the member 62 is engaged by the right-hand side of slot 64 and swung out of engagement with catch 59, thus leaving catch 59 perfectly free to engage the cross-bar 70 of the switch at any time.

I claim as my invention 1. The combination, with a time-train, of a motor independent of the time-train, means for normally restraining said motor, means controlled by the time-train for releasing said motor, an electric switch, a spring for normally urging said switch to closed position, a second stronger spring for urging said switch to open position, means operated by the motor for placing said second spring in potential condition, means for retaining the switch in closed position against the potential of the second spring, and means controlled by the time-train for withdrawing said retaining means.

2. The combination, with a time-train, of an independent motor, means for normally restraining said motor, an electric switch, means for normally urging said switch to closed position, stronger means for urging said switch to open position, means operated by the motor for placing said stronger means in potential condition, means for engaging and holding the switch in closed position against the potential of said stronger means, means carried by the time-train and adjustable relatively thereto for withdrawing the restraining means of the motor, and means also carried by the time-train and adjustable relatively thereto for withdrawing the switchrestraining means.

3. The combination, with a time-train and an independent motor, of means for normallyrestraining said motor, a disk carried by a rotatable part of the time-train and angularly adjustable thereon, means carried by said disk for intermittently engaging and withdrawing the motor-restraining means, a switch, a spring for normally urging said switch to closed position, a stronger spring for urging said switch to open position, a cam carried by the motor, intermediate connections between said cam and said stronger spring whereby movement of the cam will first place the spring in non-potential condition, and thereafter place said spring in potential condition, means for engaging an holding the switch in closed position against the potential of the said stronger spring, a second disk carried by the time-train and angularly adjustable relatively thereto, means. for engaging and retracting the switch-holding means, and means carried by said second disk for intermittently operating said engaging and retracting means.

4. In a switch-operating mechanism, a switch-retaining catch consisting of the main body, a switch-engaging catch movably mounted therein, a lever movably mounted adjacent said catch, a pawl carried by said lever, and a pin-and-slot engagement between said pawl and main body, whereby movement of the lever in one direction will swing the pawl into engagement with the catch, and the movement of the lever in the opposite direction will first cause Withdrawal of the catch and subsequent withdrawal of the pawl from the catch.

5. The combination, with a time-train, of an independent motor, means for normally restraining said motor, an electric switch,

means for normally urging said switch to closed position, a stronger means for urging said switch to open position, means operated by the motor for placing said stronger means in potential condition, means for engaging and holding the switch in closed position against the potential of said stronger means, means carried by the time-train for withdrawing the restraining means of the motor, and means also carried by the time-train forwithdrawing the switch-restraining means.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 12th day of October, A. D. 1905.

MILTON T. CAMPBELL. 

